Fatal
by DWD300
Summary: Misty was assigned to work in the finance office of the Sanctuary after he became a silver saint.  He unexpectedly offended someone at a higher rank.   Author's notes: It's Misty's fault that he is my fav silver saint and gets abused in my fics again.
1. Chapter 1 The Encounter

**Fatal**

**Chapter 1: The Encounter**

When I first came to the Sanctuary to see the Pope as the Lacerta Silver Saint, I was surprised to be assigned to work part time at the finance office. I scratched my head but told myself I had pledged to serve the Sanctuary in whatever order that was required from me. As days went by, I found that the goddess's territory functioned just like a business and much of the saints' time were spent on running the day-to-day functions rather than being sent out to save the world (or destroy the world if that was the order from the Pope's Temple). On an ordinary day, I would spend the morning in the training grounds supervising trainees training and after the lunch break I would work in the finance office. After I worked at the office for a while, I had the chance to meet many saints and others in the Sanctuary when they came to the office to submit their expense reports (travel expenses reimbursement forms of saints who were sent outside the Sanctuary on missions). Most of the time, it was a pleasant thing to know and sometimes befriend with different ranks of people.

One day I was looking for some information in a pile of invoices when Dante called me.

"Misty, can you cover me for ten minutes? I need to talk to the purchasing department about this purchase order."

"Sure." I gathered the invoices and went to sit at the front service desk. Shortly after I sat down, I heard a cold voice.

"Are you the one taking the expense report today?"

"Yes." I raised my head and saw the man standing in front of me. He had spiky dark blue hair and was wearing a sleeveless shirt with tight jeans. "You can leave the report with me." There was something about this man that made me uncomfortable. I got the expense report he handed over and quickly checked the reimbursement items against the receipts attached. He was well built and looked pretty handsome but he gave me a strange feeling. I finished checking the receipts and found a 305 Euros expense item without receipt.

"Please wait a second." I spoke up, "There was an expense item on your report that doesn't have the receipt."

The man stopped on his way walking to the office door and slightly turned his face but still with his back to me: "Excuse me?"

"There's a travel expense item in the amount of 305 Euros that doesn't have the receipt attached." I said.

"If it's not there, then I lost it." He said.

"But it's over 100 Euros and it's required to have a receipt for reimbursement." I explained, "If the receipt is lost, we can't…."

"Deathmask Sama," Dante's voice cut me off; he just came back to the office. He slightly bowed to the man, "we'll take care of the expenses."

"Very well." The man started walking to the door again.

I looked at Dante: "Dante, but the amount…."

"It's all right." Dante cut me off again. I didn't understand why he acted this way because he was the one that always followed the rules and requirements without exceptions.

"What is your name?" The blue haired man suddenly asked and we noticed that he had turned to face us.

"Deathmask Sama, he's new…." Dante said.

"I wasn't asking you." The man threw a look at Dante, who stopped talking and looked at me worriedly.

When Dante said his name for the second time, it started to sound familiar to me but before I could spend more time searching this name in my memory, the man spoke again. This time his voice was colder.

"I'm not hearing an answer."

"Misty." I answered, "Lacerta Misty." When I finished saying my name, I realized how quiet the office was. People were all looking at us but no one spoke any words.

"Deathmask." He introduced himself and seemed to match the way I introduced myself, "Cancer Deathmask."

I suddenly remembered who he was. He was the most heartless assassin in the Sanctuary – the Cancer gold saint. In fact, he was not only an assassin but was actually a crazy serial killer because he would kill whenever he felt like it. The number of people he had killed was countless and half were probably killed just because they were in his way or he didn't like the way they looked at him.

My facial expression must have changed as I recalled what I heard of the Cancer saint because Deathmask's lips curved up and formed a cruel angle.

"So now," He slowly spoke, "what do you need from me?"

I felt my heart pounding in my chest and I became aware of why the man made me feel uncomfortable the first moment I laid my eyes on him. His whole presence seemed to emit waves of death. I had never seen someone like this.

Deathmask's eyes were like needles pinning on my face. He enjoyed seeing me struggling. My colleagues were watching me – both my peer silver saints and my subordinate bronze saints. Everyone was watching to see what I would do next. I knew I could not back off now even if that meant to cost my life, otherwise I would never be able to stand straight again in the Sanctuary.

I took a breath and said: "Receipts are needed for all expenses over 100 Euros."

If I had ever said something that aroused such radical responses from others in my whole life, it would be this sentence. Dante closed his eyes for a second and reopened them again. I heard someone sighed. It was still quiet in the office but I felt the shocks from others in the air. I always knew I would die fighting someday but fate played a little joke on me today; instead of dying fighting against specters of Hades, I would be fighting against an Athena's saint.

Deathmask's eyes narrowed when he heard me and I stared at him in the eyes. I did not know how long I stared at him. My eyes started to get dry from not blinking at all. The silence in the office had formed a type of pressure and I felt a little difficult to breath. I started to wish that someone would make some kind of sound because the silence was weakening my will as each second passed.

All of sudden, Deathmask chuckled: "If I you dare to talk to me like this again, I will kill you." There was a strange look in his eyes. Then he just turned around and walked out.

I blinked my eyes and my eye lids were tired. Dante petted me on the shoulder and said something about me being lucky today. I stayed in the office till closing time but my mind was off from work. What did he mean by saying if I talked to him like this again, he would kill me? What about this time? Is today's thing really over? If Deathmask was so easy to forgive people, then he wouldn't have his reputation and the name Deathmask.

"Misty," Dante called me when we were about to leave for the day. There was hesitation in his voice: "Maybe I should not say this, but it may be a good thing if you try to avoid Deathmask for a while."

I smiled a little: "When did you start to become so diplomatic with me?"

"Don't take it as a shame. No one will look down upon you if you act a little humble in front of Deathmask." He sighed, "It doesn't worth it, especially when it will be considered fighting over personal conflicts."

I smiled at him: "I know. Thank you for the advice."

He smiled too feeling glad that I did not take his words wrong: "Then have a good night."


	2. Chapter 2 Praesepe Underworld Waves

**Fatal**

**Chapter 2: Praesepe Underworld Waves**

The next day, when I walked into the finance office in the early afternoon, everyone turned their eyes on me. I noticed one of the clerks standing in the front of the office next to Dante, who had an envelope in his hand.

"What? Is this my extra bonus check?" Despite the uneasiness I got from others' weird attention, I joked pointing at the envelope Dante was holding.

Dante did not laugh at my joke: "Misty…This is the reimbursement check we cut for Deathmask on his last expense report."

I stopped smiling.

"He had the clerk take this check back." There was a trance of upset feeling in Dante's voice, "He said…He wanted you to deliver this check to him."

The muscle of my stomach shrunk. It was not over.

I made my lips curve up a little and extended my hand to Dante to get the check: "Where is he?"

The clerk spoke up: "He said he would be waiting for you in the Cancer Temple."

*********************Dividing Line******************************

I looked up at the sign on the top of the Temple entrance thinking about the chance I would walk out of here. For a split of a second, I wondered if I should be regretting on my bold behavior yesterday; but in the next moment I decided to stop thinking and just walk in.

It was dark in the temple despite it was only early afternoon and full of daylight outside. There was no torch lit on the wall. I made my steps forward slowly. As my eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and I could make out the pillars and features of the interior of the temple, I felt my feet stepped onto something.

When I saw what I stepped on, I jumped and backed off several steps. It was a face – a human face. As I unconsciously backed off another two steps, I stepped on another one. I quickly looked around and found out I was surrounded by hundreds of faces on the floor, the wall, and the ceiling.

There were human faces everywhere in the temple.

WHAT ARE THESE? I screamed inwardly and tried to convince myself these are some kind of 3D sculpture but the desperateness and horror on the faces all seemed to scream back at me.

His name was Deathmask…

THESE ARE ALL PEOPLE HE HAD KILLED!

"Scared?" It was Deathmask's voice.

I looked ahead and saw a dark shadow walking out from the back of a pillar.

"How do you like my collections?" He smirked and pointed at one of the faces on the wall, "Look at the expression…priceless…"

"…Your collection? ...How can you…enjoy this?"

"Why not?" Deathmask continued to look at that face on the wall, "Especially the ones that fought with all their powers but nonetheless could not change their fates. For people like that, it is needed for them to suffer so the living ones know how they should act in front of the stronger." He turned his face back to me.

Without any signs, light emitted from Deathmask's hand. I felt pain on the ride side of my body and got thrown out and crushed on the wall. When I pushed the ground to stand up, I raised my head and faced one of the faces on the wall. This was the face Deathmask was looking at just now.

All the features of this face seemed to be squeezing each other and it was hard to recognize the person's look when he was alive. Yet, I found the face familiar.

"You found your friend?" Deathmask let out a crazy laughter.

I turned to look at him and then back to the face. Should I know this person?

A small scar below his eyebrow caught my attention.

I breathed in sharply. I did know this person. He was the Sextans silver saint. A couple of months ago, he was sent out on a mission and never came back. We were not informed the reason of his death. We were only told that he died on the mission. And now, his face was among the ones in the Cancer Temple.

I abruptly turned around: "You…killed him?"

Deathmask coldly responded: "It's pretty clear, isn't it?"

"WHY?" I yelled at the monster who owned one of the 12 gold clothes, which all saints and all people who served Athena looked up to with respect.

"He questioned me on why I killed a waiter, who was serving at the table the target was."

"That's it?" I widened my eyes, "You killed the waiter just because he happened to be at the table? And you killed Asen because he just questioned you?"

"Asen, is that his name?" Deathmask folded his arms. "…You haven't forgotten what I told you the other day, have you?"

Yes, I remembered. He said if I ever dared to talk to him like this, he would kill me.

"There are some people who possess higher power than the others. It is simply the truth that the weak should obey the strong. One should never question the superior."

"That is wrong."

"What?"

I looked at him: "Sanctuary's rules are to be followed by everyone including the Pope. Gold saints are not exceptions."

Deathmask's eyes shone dangerously: "Looks like I have made a mistake to spare you yesterday. Some just do not learn till the final moment." He paused a little, "I hope your power is as big as your words."

I felt my blood was boiling and I needed to take action – now. I burned my cosmo and attacked Deathmask.

To my surprise, a couple of my attacks hit Deathmask. He was forced back steps and knelt down with a single knee. I heard him taking several labored breaths.

Did I actually hit him? It seemed too easy. The thought held me back and I hesitated to continue attacking.

When I realized Deathmask had stood up, it was too late. Deathmask raised his right hand above his head and his facial expression was furious.

"Praesepe Underworld Waves!"

Grayish air was released from his hand and rushed to me like tiger waves.


	3. Chapter 3 Zombie

**Fatal**

**Chapter 3: Zombie**

When I woke up, I found myself in a place that looked like a valley. It was dark and appeared to be night time. However, I could not see either the moon or any stars. I looked around trying to find something that could tell me where I was but there was not anything helpful. Then I saw something moving in a line and I ran toward the movement.

It was a very long line of people walking forward. I yelled loudly at them: "Excuse me, can you tell me where this is?" There was no one answering me.

I put my hand on someone's shoulder and turned him back: "Where are you going?" His empty eyes stared back at me. Those eyes did not look like they belonged to anyone living and it looked like he did not see me at all even though he was standing right in front of me.

He looked like a zombie.

I was so shocked that my hand slipped off his shoulder. He turned around and joined the others again to continue marching forward. Not only him, all the people in the line looked like zombies. I looked at the direction they were going and there was a volcano like mountain ahead.

When I arrived at the top of the "volcano", I found myself at the edge of a huge hole. All I could see into the hole was pitch black darkness. One by one, the people in the line fell into the hole. When they were close to it, fear finally appeared on their expressionless faces but it seemed that they could not control their body movement, so they screamed and fell into the black hole.

"How would you like it if I push you down?" I heard Deathmask's voice behind me and I froze.

"This is the Death Hole – the passage to the underworld." I felt his hand grabbed my shoulder, "These are all people who are at the edge of life and death hoping to be saved before they fall into it." Deathmask pushed me a step forward toward the hole.

I grabbed his hand on my shoulder and tried to push him away. It was at this time that I felt my cosmo was very weak and it seemed I had lost my strength. I could not push him away.

"Souls that are sucked into the Praesepe Underworld Waves will lose all their strength in this place." Deathmask paused a second, "I told you if you dared to talk to me like that again, I would kill you."

"Now…I can throw you in…" Deathmask pushed me another step forward.

My foot hit a small rock and it fell in. It was at that time that I noticed all those people who fell into the Death hold did not return a sound. They, along with the small rock, all seemed to fall into a black hole that sucked everything from them including sound. Or maybe they had not reached the bottom yet. How deep was the hole?

"Or…You can beg me to spare you." Deathmask slowly spoke his sentence.

He waited a few seconds for my answer. After hearing nothing back, he spoke again: "Very well." He suddenly lifted my arm and threw me down.

"No!" I closed my eyes and screamed. My hands desperately tried to grab on something; then I realized I was not falling. I opened my eyes and saw Deathmask's shoe.

My body was handing on the inside of the Death hole. Deathmask was kneeling down on a single leg and his hand was still holding on my left wrist.

"Beg me to pull you up." He said, "This is your last chance."

I never felt the wish to live so badly before. At this moment, as my body was hanging at the edge of death, all the honorable thoughts escaped out of my mind and there was only one thing left.

I wanted to live. I wanted to get out of this place and see sunshine again.

"Don't kill me…" I said, "…Please."

Strangely, it was not as hard as I thought to say it out.

I felt being pulled up and left lying on the ground panting.

"Grab on me." Deathmask said, "I will take you back to the Cancer Temple."

I followed his words. I waited for him to laugh at me and say some mean and sarcastic words, but he did not laugh nor say anything after that.

*********************Diving Line******************

"We are here." Deathmask's words brought me back to reality.

I was in the Temple of Cancer again and in front of a door close to the exit of the temple.

"Follow me." Deathmask ordered and walked into the door. I mechanically followed him without asking where we were going.

After walking pass a short hall way, we arrived at a medium sized living room.

He extended his hand to me and I looked at him. I felt dizzy and like standing on soft cotton instead of hard floor. After I begged him not to kill me, part of me was detached from my body. Although I still looked like a complete person, I knew I was not complete anymore.

I had abandoned the nobleness in my heart in the Death Hole in exchange for my physical body to live on, and what was left of me was just a lifeless zombie. My body had come back to the living world but was I different from the dead that fell into the Death hole?

"The check." Deathmask said.

Oh, the check, of course. I had forgotten the original purpose that I came to the Cancer Temple. How long had it been since I left the finance office to deliver the check to Deathmask? An hour? 30 minutes? Years?

I pulled out the check out of my pocket and put it on Deathmask's hand. After that I turned around toward the door we just came in.

Deathmask moved and stood in my way: "Don't you think you owe me a 'thank you'?"

"Thank you." I said not really knowing why I said it.

"Are you just going to leave like this?" He asked.

I looked at him confusingly.

"How will you thank me?"

What now? I thought I saw something in his eyes but I lowered my face. I was so tired and my neck could not hold the weight of my head.

I saw his hands raised and grabbed my shirt. I looked up startled when he put his hand under my shirt.

"Stop…What…What are you doing?" I grabbed his wrist.

He did not answer me. He pushed me backward and my back hit the wall. He lifted my chin and moved his face close.

I raised my arm and pushed him away. He backed two steps due to my push and then hit me on the face. I fell on the floor and tasted something strangely sweet in my mouth, then my chin was lifted up again.

"It is better than being dead, right?" Deathmask looked at me right into the eyes. I felt a knife had been stabbed into my soul. Blood came out and my regained strengths were dissolved in it like sugar in hot water.

Deathmask's hands slipped into my shirt again and he started kissing me.

Was it raining? The rain had fallen into my eyes and blurred my vision. No, impossible, I was inside. I thought I was going insane. My soul had floated out of my body and knelt down at a corner of the room sadly watching my body lying on the floor motionlessly.

However, I felt the weight on me was gone. I blinked my eyes trying to squeeze the rain water out of them so I could see.

Deathmask had stood up already. He was standing at the window with his back facing me.

"Leave." He said.

I gathered every piece of me that was still there and got up. My legs felt heavy like lead. I walked out of the door that connected the main part of the Cancer Temple to Deathmask's living room.

It was dark outside already but the sky was very clear. I looked at the shining stars. It was not raining but my face was still wet. The night breeze gently blew over my face and left me with a cool feeling. A drop of rain ran into my mouth and it tasted bitterly salty.

The wet things were my tears, not rain.

The realization was like a punch on my nose and more tears started falling down my cheeks as I walked down. Half way down the hill, I tripped and fell down the stairs. I did not bother to regain the control of my body and just let myself roll down till I hit a big rock on the side and stopped.

When I finally got to my hut, the first thing I did was to get water and washed away the tears and dirt. After I changed clothes, I looked into the mirror and saw myself all clean and neat again. I looked great as if nothing had happened today. Through my eyes, I saw a small silhouette of myself cuddling in the deepest part of my heart still shaking and crying. I knew I had to get rid of this "me" that still was capable of feeling sad and shameful because he would chew my heart into piece and kill my body. So, I told the crying "me" that he had to die. I grabbed "him" and the clothes I was wearing today and threw both of them into the trash can. Then I lay down on my bed and told myself to go to sleep. When I woke up tomorrow morning, I would be able to live again.

Like nothing had happened today.


	4. Chapter 4 Alive

**Fatal**

**Chapter 4: Alive**

Had it been days or weeks since I came back alive? Or since I died? I had been in a half dead half alive stage for a while yet no one asked me what happened that day. Dante once tried to say something but finally did not. My friends were avoiding the topic not wanting to upset me. My subordinates were doing the same because they started to fear me and wonder how strong my cosmo was; they were surprised by the fact that I was not killed by Deathmask but they did not know what I had given up in order to come back alive.

I blocked that day from my memory. For me, it was simply a matter of survival. I had to forget in order to stay alive.

One smart person who lived before my time once said that time would heal everything and it seemed to be true. I started to feel a little bit more complete as each day went by. I started to heal; or so I thought.

That afternoon, I was working on a report at my desk with my back facing the finance office door. It was a quiet afternoon and there were only me and a clerk in the office.

"Deathmask Sama, how can I help you?"

When I heard the greeting from the clerk, something in my left chest was ripped open by an invisible force and I almost bent over on my desk due to the pain.

It did not heal.

The numbers on my computer screen started dancing around like they were having a party. All my normal five senses were gone but my sixth sense strangely became so acute that I could feel him looking at my back.

I stayed in the same position facing the computer screen.

I heard some paper shuffling sound.

"I will take care of this for you." The clerk's voice.

There were no more talking after that. Deathmask did not say a word from the very beginning. What was he doing?

The door opened and then closed again. He left.

"Lacerta Misty."

I recognized the voice, which belonged to one of the pope's messengers. I turned my back.

To my shock, I saw Deathmask standing next to the messenger leaning again the wall. Why was he still here?

"You have a mission coming up." The messenger spoke up. After he said that, the clerk left the office. It was the rule that only the saints who were assigned to the missions to be present when the messenger made announcements.

The messenger waited several seconds after the clerk left the room. He was waiting for Deathmask to leave.

Deathmask was still leaning against the wall with no sign of leaving as if he would be part of the mission.

Finally, the messenger gave up as he did not want to confront Deathmask and ask him to leave. He just said to me: "Tomorrow, you will go to Japan with Asterion, Babel, and Moses. Ten bronze saints were involved in private fights for the Sagittarius gold cloth under the order of a girl named Saori Kido who claimed herself as the reincarnation of Athena."

I raised an eyebrow. A Japanese girl claimed herself as Athena? However, Deathmask did not seem to be surprised at this piece of information.

"Of course," The messenger continued, "The Sagittarius cloth Kido has is a fake one, but it is intolerable that someone claims herself as Athena and gathers a bunch of bronze saints to fight each other. Therefore, the pope has decided to send you four to punish the bronze saints and take the fake Sagittarius cloth back to the Sanctuary."

Something did not feel right in this mission. If the Sagittarius cloth was fake, then why bothered to take it back? Why wouldn't we just punish the fake Athena and the bronze saints? But I did not ask the question.

"What time are we scheduled to leave tomorrow?" I asked.

"8:30am." The messenger answered. "Is everything clear?"

"Yes." I said.

"Good, then take some rest today and get ready for tomorrow." The messenger left the office.

"So you are going to this mission." Deathmask commented and looked outside the door at the back of the messenger, who was walking away.

"Yes." I said not knowing what he meant.

"Well, then try to come back alive." He said.

What? I looked at him. They were just bronze saints, weren't they? Why did he seem to think ten bronze saints could have any chance in front of four silver saints? After all, why did this mission concern him anyway?

Deathmask did not further explain his words. He turned his face to glare at me and then pushed the door open and left.

****************Dividing Line************************

I was lying on the beach under the Fuji Mountain in Japan. I tried to lift my arm or move my leg but failed. My body felt heavier than stones and I thought some bones on my shoulder area must be broken. I tried to open my eyes and stay awake but my senses were gradually fading away.

I felt I was lifted and did not feel any more pain. I tried to open my eyes again to see what happened and this time I did not have any trouble doing that. When I clearly saw where I was, I wished I never opened my eyes.

The valley.

The valley that the Death Hole resided in.

I was walking in a line and there were people in front of and behind me. I looked ahead and reality met my expectations. I was on the way walking to the Death Hole entrance.

I had to do something to get out of this line but my legs kept walking forward and did not follow my brain's order. When I saw Moses and Babel walking not far ahead of me, I called their names as loudly as I could but no sound came out of my mouth. I was not really sure if I did not make out any sound or they just could not hear me.

The Death Hole was getting closer and closer.

When I stood next to the huge black hold again, I knew everything was over. This was it, my life. Not long ago, I begged Deathmask not to throw me into the Death Hole; but now I was here again. My punishment had come. Athena had given me the final judgment and she had decided a coward like me did not deserve to be saved.

I closed my eyes in desperation and my leg took another step forward.

Just at the moment I was to fall into the Death Hole, someone grabbed my wrist.

I opened my eyes and saw a shoe. I looked up and thought I had gone into the time and space tunnel and was back to that day when I was hit by Praesepe Underworld Waves.

Deathmask's hand was holding my wrist and pulled me up. However, he did not say anything this time.

****************Dividing Line***************************

I woke up from a dream, in which Deathmask was using his cosmo to heal my wounds, and found myself in a room that I did not recognize. The room had conservative styled furniture of warm brown red color. The curtain covered most of the two windows but left a small corner of the window to allow some day light coming in. A daily calendar was on the bedside table. I looked at the date. My fight with Seiya happened yesterday, which meant I had slept almost a whole day.

I sat up to get out of the bed and did not feel any pain on my shoulder. I felt recovered from the wounds I got and this confused me. If only one day had passed since the fight, my shoulder should still hurt like hell now. Pushing the bedroom door open, the living room appeared in my view. I had been to this living room before but this was the first time I really looked at it closely and saw it had an open adjacent kitchen next to it. In the kitchen next to the stove stood the person that had become too much involved in my life recently.

Cancer Deathmask.

Deathmask had his right side of the body facing me with a salt bottle in his hand. I was sure he knew I was standing there looking at him but he did not talk to me. He continued dashing salt to the pot on the stove and stirred what seemed to be soup in it.

The smell coming from the pot was good. I suddenly felt hungry. I quietly bit my lower lips. How could I think of food in the home of Deathmask, the one who had such a horrible personality and almost killed me not long ago? However, the more I wanted to press down my appetite, the stronger the soup's smell became. I couldn't help wondering what kind of soup was in the pot.

Then I heard a weird sound. I looked around trying to find out the source of the sound and found Deathmask had turned his head to look at me. After two seconds, he pointed at the kitchen table.

"Sit. Almost ready."

I sat down at the table and felt my ears burning. The weird sound just now was my stomach growling. I looked down on the table and felt I truly did not have any worthiness anymore. I was not brave (I considered braveness almost a prerequisite of sainthood) and afraid to die; and when I just came back from the edge of death, the first thing that got my attention was the food from someone who tried to kill me before and forced me to beg for my life.

For the first time, I hated myself. I felt so shameful.

I saw a hand putting a bowl of hot soup on the table in front of me. This same hand had used the Praesepe Underworld Waves on me and pulled me up from the Death Hole twice.

I did not look up to see Deathmask's face.

A moment later, the hand brought a plate with a loaf of bread on it.

"What are you waiting for? It's been a day since you ate your last meal." Deathmask's voice came from the other side of the table.

I slowly raised my head and saw him starting to eat already.

Maybe I was too hungry or maybe Deathmask's cooking was just good, I ended up finishing two big bowls of lamb vegetable soup and half loaf of sour dough bread.

When I finished, I found Deathmask had been watching me eating for a while. My ears felt hot again and I felt I should offer to wash the dishes.

"I'll wash the dishes." I quickly stood up and collected the dishes together in a pile.

When I walked into the kitchen, Deathmask spoke up: "Just put them in the dishwasher."

"…Ok." I stacked the dishes in the dishwasher. After that, I stood there not knowing what to do next. Should I walk back to the table and sit down again? Should I leave? Deathmask just sat at the table with his back facing me.

I decided it was a better idea to leave now.

"I…Thank you for the meal…" I said, "I'm…going to go back to my hut."

Deathmask's response to my words was simple.

"No."

No? I widened my eyes and watched him standing up and started walking to the hall way.

"From now on," He said, "You will stay here until I say you can leave."

"…Why?" I asked as he walked into the hall way.

Deathmask did not answer my question.

"Do not walk out of here." He said and opened the door between the main temple and the living quarter, "If I don't see you when I'm back, I'll kill you."


	5. Chapter 5 Pieces of Puzzles

**Fatal**

**Chapter 5: Pieces of the Puzzles**

I hated you. I hated you. I hated you.

I paced in the living room for I did not remember how many times and cursed Deathmask. What was wrong with this person? He definitely had serious mental problems. Why the heck did he imprison me in his temple?

After I calmed down a little, I realized I had forgotten something important. All saints that came back from the assigned mission, successful or not, needed to report to the pope. I quickly stood up and ran out of the door.

When I arrived at the pope's temple, I walked pass the messenger who informed me my mission two days ago. I greeted him and continued to the main quarter of the pope's temple.

"Misty?" He acted like he had seen a ghost, "You are alive?"

I frowned at his words but replied: "Yes, I have come to report to the pope."

"…" He was quiet for a second, "Deathmask is in with the pope reporting to him now."

This time it was my turn to go speechless.

"…Reporting to the pope…about my mission?"

"Yes. I was outside the office and heard he said the only one alive is Asterion, who's badly wounded…"

What was Deathmask doing? I walked away from the messenger.

"Misty! You can't go in now!"

I ignored him and quickly walked up the red carpet to the pope's office. The massive gate was open and I quietly hided outside and listened.

"All three have died?" This was the pope's voice. It sounded heavy and metallic as always from behind his mask.

"Yes." Deathmask's voice.

"I felt only two cosmos disappeared."

I held my breath and waited to hear what Deathmask would say.

"…It's just a silver saint," Deathmask said, "whom I think Pope does not need to get concerned. It is the gold saints that matter in this battle."

"Really?" The pope spoke, "I'd like to hear what you think about this battle, as a gold saint."

"I think any saints lower than the gold saints' rank would not make any difference at this time now. Pope should confirm as many gold saints as possible to be on our side."

"Our side?" The pope laughed, "Are you confirming that you are on my side now?"

"Yes, but I have a request."

"What request?"

"Do not send Lacerta Misty out again to finish this mission. It would not change the result."

"The same saints usually are sent out for the second time to complete their missions if they failed the first time, unless they died or are wounded badly."

"Besides Pope and me, no one knows there's someone else alive other than Asterion."

"Are you doing business with me, Cancer gold saint?" There was a trace of danger in the pope's voice and I almost wanted to step out to see what expression Deathmask had on his face.

"No," Deathmask said, "I do not dare to talk business with Pope. I'm just confirming my loyalty."

"Good. You are dismissed now."

I quickly retreated out of the pope's temple when I heard Deathmask's cape shuffling as he stood up.

I got back to the Cancer Temple and sat down on the couch waiting for Deathmask to come back. I had many questions I wanted to ask him. After sitting down for a couple of minutes, I stood up and paced around in the living room impatiently.

When Deathmask got back, he threw a glare at me: "Where were you just now?"

"At the pope's temple outside the door." I said with no intention of lying. There was no use to lie anyway. If the pope could feel my cosmo from the Sanctuary when I was in Japan, there was no way that Deathmask would not sense me just now.

"Why did you tell the pope I had died already?" I asked.

Deathmask turned around and did not look at me anymore.

"…Why did you save me yesterday?" I did not give up.

His silence only stirred my curiosity and generated more questions from me.

"Why can't I report the result of my mission to the pope myself?" I asked again, "Why can't I go out again to try to finish the mission?"

"Because I said so." Deathmask responded in a level voice.

I choked a little on his reply and hesitated a little:"…Why is…."

"You have too many whys like a noisy 4 year old." Deathmask cut me off and turned his face. "I only had people asking me why I was killing them before. You are the only one asking why I saved you." Deathmask said, "Do you prefer to die like the other silver saints?"

His question reminded me about Babel and Moses and a thought flashed to my mind.

"…Did you know we are all going to fail the mission and die? Is that why you were waiting at the Death Hole?" I looked into his eyes and searched for anything that could give out the answer.

After a moment of silence, he sat down in the couch.

"Yes." He said, "I know you will fail."

I opened my mouth but was not sure what to ask next. I just stood there with my mouth half opened.

Deathmask sat back in the couch more comfortably: "No more questions?"

"…But…But the bronze saints are not supposed to win against the silver saints…It's unheard of in the history of saints…" I managed to say out my thoughts, "Why did you expect us to fail the mission?"

"Because they have Nike on their side." Deathmask answered.

"Nike? The Goddess of Victory?"

"Yes."

"But the goddess of Victory is supposed to be with Athena and guides her saints to defeat their enemies, how come…." I swallowed back my next question and was scared of what I thought of.

If Nike should be with Athena and now she was with the bronze saints, that meant….No, no, it was not possible. I fixed my eyes on the floor and tried to rationalize everything.

Deathmask watched my confusion: "You just opened the Box of Pandora. It is not always smart to know all the truth."

As silence started to take over again, Deathmask suddenly spoke again: "My turn to ask questions. Why did you leave the Cancer Temple when I told you not to?"

I looked up.

"Do not leave this Temple again without my permission."

*******************Dividing Line*********************

I had stayed in the Cancer Temple for more than a week now. Deathmask went out from time to time to go to who knew where and sometimes would bring back groceries. Cooking had become an unsaid agreement between the two of us – I made lunch and he prepared dinner. I did not know what he did about breakfast. At night time I could not help but to try to put the puzzle pieces together and did not fall asleep on time; therefore I never woke up till most of the morning was gone. When I walked out of my bedroom, Deathmask was usually nowhere to be found. Then I would fix something up to eat and he would show up at around noon time just in time for lunch. He stayed in the temple most of the afternoons in his little library. I checked it out one day when he was not in and found a collection of novels and other books. I took some to my bedroom and read them when I did not have anything to do.

Gradually, I felt less threatened and more at ease with him. Especially during dinner time, when my taste buds happily indulged in the flavors of food, I almost forgot he was Deathmask. He looked like an ordinary man – John, Luke, Jason, but not Deathmask.

One night it was close to midnight when I finally felt a little sleepy. I put down the book I borrowed from Deathmask's library and shut the light off. When I was about to meet Hypnos, something woke me up from the sleepiness. I did not actually hear anything. It was just a feeling. I sensed someone came close to my bedroom and stopped outside the door.

I did not move when the door knob turned. I had my back facing the door.

Deathmask. It could not be anyone else.

I heard him walking in quietly and picking up the book on the night stand. Two seconds later he put it down and sat down in the bed.

My heart was beating fast in my chest as I felt him putting his hand in my hair caressing it. He then lay down beside me facing the same direction as I was and surrounded his arm on my waist. His chest was against my back.

"Turn around. I know you are awake." Deathmask said at my ear.

I sat up and turned around with my back against the wall next to the bed.

It was dark in the room but I could see his face. He was still laying there and just looking at me.

I did not know what to do. I could try to shoot for the door fast but my fastest speed would probably look like slow-paced movie scene in his eyes, so I just moved to the side of the bed like I was going to get a drink of water. I acted as normally as I could. When I was about to get off the bed, he spoke again.

"The floor is not a comfortable choice."

I froze on the spot with my left side of the body facing Deathmask. I felt the temperature of my ears slowly went up.

"I'm not a patient person." Deathmask pushed the mattress and sat up in the bed too.

"Come here." He said with a normal voice but it sounded like an order.

I bit my lower lip. What should I do?

Seeing me not moving, Deathmask seemed to give up.

"I should know better…"

The next moment, I was pinned down in bed with both of my lower arms held in his hands and his left knee was on my stomach.

"…that you have a problem with authority."

My mind went blank for a second. I did not see clearly how he moved just now. When I gained my composure back, I struggled under my instincts.

Deathmask's hands were like grown onto my arms and did not move.

"Don't try to do what the bronze saints did. I told you they only won the higher rank saints because Nike was on their side." Deathmask lowered his face and whispered, "Unfortunately, you don't have that kind of luck."


	6. Chapter 6 Just the Beginning

**Fatal**

**Chapter 6: Just the Beginning**

I did not want to open my eyes. Whenever I had encountered something I did not want to confront or think about, I tended to sleep in to escape from it. It was probably a habit that came with me from birth and I had not been successful in getting rid of it even after I became a saint.

I knew I was facing the wall next to the bed again and I felt Deathmask lying behind me, but I chose not to move.

"How long do you want to pretend you are still sleeping?" It was Deathmask's voice behind my back.

I tried to shut my eyes more tightly as if that was possible when the eyes were already closed.

Deathmask touched my back and his hand gradually moved up. He grabbed my shoulder but stopped.

"I'll give you some time."

I opened my eyes slightly.

"When you walk out of the exit of the Cancer Temple and jump over the mountain rocks on the left, you'll see a small trait. Following the trait you will end up in a piece of spare land in the woods. Meet me there in half an hour and wear your silver cloth."

After saying that, I heard Deathmask getting off the bed and put on his clothes.

Before he walked out of the room, he threatened me: "If I still find you in bed at that time, I'll throw you in the woods naked."

I turned around after I no longer hear Deathmask. I did not want to face him this quickly but I did not want to test what he said he would do either if I didn't go meet him in the woods.

When I arrived in the woods carrying my cloth box, Deathmask was already waiting there. He had his Cancer gold cloth on.

"Put your Cloth on." He said.

I did not ask why this time. After knowing Deathmask for some time, I sort of figured out his tyrant style. If he wanted to tell you something, he would force you to listen even if you didn't want to; and if he did not want to tell you something, he would not even stay on the subject. Plus, I would probably know why after I put my silver cloth on.

"Now attack me." Deathmask said after I was fully armed.

My response was "What?"

"I said, attack me. Don't tell me you don't have the guts."

I frowned at his words and blew out an attack at him. I was not sure what his intention was and therefore not using my full power.

"Is this all you got?" Deathmask's hand moved in front of his body and I saw my blow gathered in his hand like a small light ball. His hand then opened and released the light ball toward me.

I moved my hands quickly and created an air shield to block my own attack.

"Your Air Shield." Deathmask commented, "That will be an effective protection as long as your enemy is not very strong and the attacks are scattered."

"What is your point?" I asked.

"Give a better attack. Use Mavrou Trippa."

A little surprised at the fact that he knew my attacks so well, I followed his words and attacked again.

"Mavrou Trippa!"

Deathmask stood there and moved two hands in the front to block my attack: "Not bad, the attack that shook the base of the Fuji Mountain."

I held my fist back and stood straight: "Did you watch the fight between me and Seiya?"

Deathmask acted like he did not hear my question: "Mavrou Trippa is good for a silver saint's level but not good enough against stronger opponents." He paused a second, "It will be too weak if you use it against an enemy in the gold saint's level."

By this time I started to realize that Deathmask was training me. Everything that happened recently had been like puzzles to me, now the one about Deathmask started to become a little clear. However, as soon as I thought about the key to solve the Deathmask puzzle, I shook it off because it was simply not real to me.

"Don't just stand there. Think, if I'm your enemy now and your best attack no longer works against me, what will you do?" Deathmask shouted at me.

What will I do in front of an enemy that was much stronger than me? The cosmo level obviously was the most important factor that would determine the result.

Seeing I started burning my cosmo, Deathmask lightly clapped his hands: "Cosmo level is the key. Let's see how strong you can burn your cosmo."

******************Dividing Line************************

In the following days, I almost spent every minute with Deathmask. I had not been trained so hard since I earned my silver cloth. I realized this was a rare opportunity for me that I could receive direct training from a gold saint and I started listening carefully to each sentence Deathmask spoke. As each day went by, I was surprised that Deathmask was a good teacher. He had the two qualities a good teacher should have – first, the knowledge and power; and second, the ability to see when the disciple needs more guidance and then give it.

In one late afternoon close to our usual wrap up time, Deathmask told me to stop and take a break. We sat down on the rocks.

"Do you know why gold saints have much stronger cosmos than the other saints?" Deathmask asked me.

I thought about it for a minute: "My teacher once told me that certain people were born with more inner strengths or talents than others."

"Right and wrong." Deathmask said, "It is true that gold saints reached the levels they are at because they have more so-called 'talents', but that is not the most important thing that made them the strongest in all saints."

He paused a second as if trying to think of an example to make the concept easier for me to understand: "For instance, in a school class, there are always some students who will learn much faster than the others and get high grades. However, the reason that they get high grades is not because they learn fast. It is because they have understood the essentials of learning."

"So the gold saints are like the students who have understood the essentials of learning?" I asked.

"Correct." Deathmask answered, "What makes gold saints the strongest is the 7th sense. That is the 'essentials of learning'."

"7th sense? ...People normally have only 5 senses. Plus the 6th sense that is called 'instinct' or 'psychic power', there are only 6 senses. What's the 7th one?"

"7th sense is beyond the 6 senses, which only a very few people can reach in their life time. When one reaches the 7th sense, he will be able to absorb or borrow the power from the surrounding big cosmo instead of only replying on his own inner small cosmo. All gold saints have reached the 7th sense; therefore, their cosmos can become much stronger than the silver and bronze saints, who merely rely on their own small cosmos."

I only listened and didn't speak.

"As you may already know, some of your peer silver saints have stronger cosmos than the others. That is because some possess more inner strengths or 'talents' than the others or because some had received better guidance and training from their teachers. However, because they were just relying on their own small cosmos, the upper limits of their cosmos levels are limited. On the other hand, the gold saints' cosmos levels have unlimited potential as they can borrow the power from the surrounding big cosmo."

"How can one reach the 7th sense?" I asked and my palms were sweating because of the excitement.

"I reached the 7th sense when I was fighting against my teacher to earn the Cancer cloth. The battle became intense and I had forgotten everything around me including my own physical existence. There was only one thing left in my mind and that was to win." Deathmask spoke, "I can only tell you this much because 7th sense is not something tangible I can show you. It entirely depends on yourself whether or not you can get it and bring your cosmo to that level."

I took a deep breath: "Thank you for teaching me this." I truly meant to say thank you to Deathmask. The 7th sense was something I never heard of. I knew that most saints would never have the opportunity to listen to this even though it was only a vague concept.

Deathmask nodded and stood up: "Let's call it a day."

That night I changed into my pajamas and was sitting in my bed reading. My door was knocked. As I stood up, the door opened and Deathmask walked in before I said anything.

"Can I come in?" He asked.

"It's … too late to say no…" I shrugged a little and said, "…You are already in…"

A small smile slowly emerged on Deathmask's face. It seemed that he found my answer interesting: "That's true, but even if you say no, I'll come in anyway." He said and the small smile changed to another "evil" one.

"…I figured…" I said, "Why did you bother to ask then?"

Deathmask suddenly laughed. He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer. I closed my eyes for the moment he gave me the short kiss and opened them afterward but avoided his eyes.

In that quick second when we were looking into each other's eyes, I noticed something familiar. I remembered that I had seen it the first time I met him, when he chuckled and threaten to kill me if I dared to talk back to him again before he walked out of the finance office. I saw it again in the living room of Cancer Temple after we came back from the Death Hole the day he hit me with Praesepe Underworld Waves. If it had appeared in someone else's eyes, I would probably recognize it at the first time. But the fact that it was in Deathmask's eyes made it difficult for me to believe it. I had been denying its existence and convinced myself that it was just my eyes playing tricks on me. And now, I just saw it again.

Deathmask let go of me and backed off one step: "I came to tell you that you can leave the Cancer Temple now."

I abruptly raised my face and looked at him. I did not expect him to say this. That something I saw in his eyes earlier had disappeared. His facial expression changed and had a cruel and merciless look, which reminded me what he looked like when he attacked me. No, there was a subtle difference that I could tell by now after I had spent so much time with him each day. His facial expression was only mad and furious when he used Praesepe Underworld Waves on me. It was not cruel.

"What?" His voice turned cold, "Too happy to say anything?"

I was still shocked that I had finally recognized the thing I saw in Deathmask's eyes.

"Saori Kido and the bronze saints will be here tomorrow to see the pope. They will have to go past all the gold saints before they reach the pope's temple, so leave now." Deathmask threw out the words and walked to the door not looking at me anymore.

"Why did you tell me about the 7th sense?" I quickly asked.

"It doesn't mean you will be able to get to that level just because you know the 7th sense exists."

"Why did you only save me from the Death Hole the other day? You saw Babel and Moses too, didn't you? Why were you waiting at the Death Hole that day?"

No response came from Deathmask.

"Why did you spend time training me these days?" I felt I had to continue asking till I confirmed the answer.

I had known the answer but I wanted the confirmation. I felt I had to confirm it today or I might never know it for sure.

"Why do you always have so many whys?" Deathmask growled and suddenly turned around angrily, "Fine, I'll tell you why! Because you are so useless and can't even defeat a bronze saint! Because when the holy war comes against Hades, you'll get killed in seconds if you meet a strong specter! Are you clear now? Now get out of my temple!"

The thing I saw in Deathmask's eyes had never become clearer to me than this moment. His harsh words were like storms but they washed away the things that covered his real intention. He wanted me to become stronger and survive the battles ahead of me.

He wanted me to live.

He loved me.

The way he showed his love was too different from others' but it was still love.

I walked forward and wrapped my arm around Deathmask's waist burying my face on his shoulder. I felt Deathmask's body went stiff.

"What are you doing?" He said after a long silence.

"Let me stay here tonight," I said, "Please."

Deathmask did not answer and didn't return my hug either. He just stood there and let me hold him. I turned my face toward his and started kissing his neck and the area behind his earlobe. My hands pressed his body against mine more tightly before moving to the front of his body to unbutton his shirt.

Deathmask suddenly grabbed me by the collar and kissed me hard. He threw me into the bed and finished unbuttoning his own shirt. His lips moved from my throat to my chest as he took the pajamas off me.

I touched him as he touched me. I kissed him back as he kissed me. I moved as he moved. I wanted to give all I had to him and receive all he could give to me. I wanted the god of time fall asleep so I could have enough time to feel and let him burn his name on me.

Like a tattoo on my soul that would never fade away.

*******************Dividing Line***********************

I stood in the saints' cemetery at the very back of the group with flowers in my hands. Saori Kido was giving her blessing to the saints that died. When the ceremony was finished and people had left, I walked forward and put a flower in front of each of the 10 silver saints' graves. I was like a newcomer again without any friends. I sighed and quietly turned around and walked to the gold saints' section.

Deathmask's grave was among the 5 new ones. I passed a flower in front of each of the 4 other tomb stones and sat down on the ground facing his.

"Hey…" I said, "You said I was so useless and couldn't even defeat a bronze saint. How come you got killed by one?"

I extended my hand to touch the carving on the stone – Cancer Deathmask, and let the coldness pass through my fingertips.

"I know. Nike is on their side." I put the last flower down, "Excuses…" My eyes started to feel sore and hot, "You are useless too…You useless…"

Someone walked close to me from my back. I breathed in to stop the tears from coming down and turned around.

Saori Kido was standing behind me.

I knelt down and bowed my head: "Athena."

"Misty." She acknowledged me, "Please get up."

I stood up and she looked up at me with sorrow in her eyes: "I'm sorry that you have lost so many friends."

I was somewhat surprised by her words: "No, Athena…I'm the one that should apologize. I should be protecting you but I did the opposite."

Athena shook her head and smiled gently: "You didn't know… I'm glad that you are here with me today. The end of the 12 temples battle is just the beginning. We will have to face Hades and his specters very soon. The Sanctuary had suffered great loss, which will make the upcoming holy war especially difficult. I want to thank you ahead of time for the battles you will get into in the future."

I knew the history of the holy wars. Only two gold saints survived the last war. With the deaths of so many saints this time, there might not be anyone left alive in this coming one.

I bowed my head again: "I will fight for you till the end of my life."

I watched Athena walking away and saw Aries Mu standing not far from here waiting for her. When they left the cemetery, I put my arms around Deathmask's stone as if holding his shoulder.

"Did you hear that?" I put my forehead against the stone imaging it was Deathmask's forehead, "The holy war will begin soon and I will fight and kill as many specters as I can like a real saint. You will see." Warm tears rolled down my cold cheeks, "I'll see you again…It won't be long."

**The End**


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